The January 30th issue of British publication Property Weekreminded us of the folly of Anglo Irish Bank.

There on the bottom of the back page was a colour advert for the Anglo Irish Bank Regatta at the famed Cowes in June. There’s even a website for this nautical extravaganza, with a link to Anglo’s website, where you can read all about the State’s takeover. With the Irish taxpayer sponsoring the event, perhaps we could enter one of our Navy ships or the Garda speed boat. At the very least, let’s hope Tourism Ireland takes a stall.

Stockholm-based communications provider Ericsson really should have got its message right this week when answering questions from the Irish media on rumours of cuts to its 2,100-strong workforce here. In answer to the reasons behind a meeting of all staff scheduled for yesterday at its operations in Dublin and Athlone, Ericsson’s mother ship in Sweden said: “It’s a normal working day for us.” Irish workers were subsequently informed that 300 staff would be let go here. In the context of the recession here and a constant stream of job losses, it was indeed a “normal” day, just not one involving much working.

We wonder how policyholders in insurance giant Aviva feel about its plan to splash out about €48 million on the naming rights for the new Lansdowne Road. Earlier this week, Aviva said a proposed £1 billion special payout would have to be significantly trimmed in a bid to preserve cash. Aviva owns Hibernian in Ireland and recently put the two names together as part of a rebranding exercise here, hence the desire to net the Lansdowne deal. This comes against a backdrop of a 38 per cent decline in life and pension sales here last year and a warning from Irish boss Stuart Purdy that motor and home premiums here would have to rise by up to 20 per cent. The IRFU and FAI will be hoping Hibernian Aviva don’t kick to touch before the contract is signed.

It’s been a bad few weeks for Cameron O’Reilly’s Swiss smart metering group Landis+Gyr. An undercover sting of House of Lords peers in the British press revealed that former energy minister Lord Truscott had accepted payment to lobby for a smart metering company in relation to a piece of legislation. It subsequently emerged that Truscott was a hired gun of Landis+Gyr, which is backed by Cameron’s father Sir Anthony. Landis+Gyr has since cut Truscott loose. A smart move in the circumstances.